Murphy, Billy
December 18, 2012The death of Billy Murphy has diminished the stock of volunteers that turned McHale Park into a throbbing football centre in the middle of the last century. Dick Morrin, Gerry McDonald, Tommy Ainsworth and Patsy Horkan were his contemporaries ... and his tutors.
He was a member of the executive of Castlebar Mitchels and of McHale Park Development Committee in the late 1940s, whose imaginative financial schemes funded the renovations of the stadium. Billy later served as chairman and president of the club, a member of Mayo GAA Board, and a selector of the Mayo minor team.
As legends go, Billy Murphy had a tailwind on most. Nothing fazed him. To whatever organisation he gave his loyalty, he was larger than life, audacious at times, quick-witted, serious in a light-hearted way. And no one had a harsh word to say about him.
He worked with Telecom Eireann for the greater part of his life, reaching the rank of supervisor. He was stationed for periods in Castlebar, Claremorris and Sligo before returning to the county town and settling there after retirement.
He was a constant presence in the growth of Castlebar Mitchels. Stories of his own sporting escapades abound. He saw positives where there were none, and even up to the last days of his illness, believed he might pull through to play another round of golf.
On the football field, his exploits have entered the realm of folklore. He won a few All-Ireland medals with the Castlebar Telecom football team. Once, playing in goals against the Dublin Engineers, he was having an off day and it seemed Castlebar might lose. Eventually the outcome hung on a penalty awarded to the Engineers. In a desperate bid to avoid defeat, one of his colleagues asked Billy to vacate the goal and to leave it to someone else to stand in for the penalty.
Billy steadfastly refused. The penalty was taken. A blinding blur of action ensued and the ball was stopped ... on the goalline. With that Billy, having cleared the ball, vacated his post and told his colleagues to go and fill it with whomever they wished.
Although on the periphery of football achievements with Castlebar Mitchels - and he has the medals to prove it - the dizzy heights of his Telecom success eluded him. But a Mitchels jersey brought to the altar at his funeral Mass on Sunday tempted celebrant Fr John Cosgrove, himself a Claremorris stalwart back then, to suggest humorously that some of his own blood could have been on that shirt.
Billy would have loved to hear that, for you felt at times that he wished to have scored the winning goal in a county final for the Mitchels, or have experienced the fame of lining out with Mayo in Croke Park. Sometimes it appeared he really believed he had. And in that absurd way he endeared himself as a fun-loving rascal to those who knew him and whose company they thoroughly enjoyed.
If he played like he danced, his dreams would surely have come true. Lithe and light-footed he glided elegantly around the ballrooms of the 1940s, as if on air, and people left the floor to watch when he tangoed.
Courtesy of The Mayo News. Tweet
